self-care
The Wisdom Of Intuitive Eating
I remember reading an article many years ago about a research study conducted with children suffering from various nutritional deficiencies and food allergies. The scientists invited about 20 of these kids into a room with a table on which there was a variety of foods on display. They allowed each child to help themselves to any of the food they preferred. The outcome was astounding!
Each child chose a selection of food that their body naturally would tolerate the best. In other words, they instinctively chose foods that would not a bad for them or cause an allergic reaction. Furthermore, the children also chose more foods containing the nutrients their little bodies were lacking.
This confirmed for me the fact that our intuition or inner guidance system is not merely something we rely on when we are facing major life challenges, or when we are engaging in some form of spiritual practice. Intuition guides us every day in everything we do.
Intuitive eating is very much about honoring the temple which houses our soul. I believe we could potentially become nutritionally much healthier if we learn to trust our intuition more when we make dietary choices, instead of following fad diets and food trends.
Intuitive eating is about challenging modern society’s ‘food police,’ as well as the negative self-talk about eating and food choices many of us tend to engage in.
Intuitive eaters soon find that they eat just the right amount of various foods to nourish and satisfy their body, as they learn to truly recognize their body’s signals. Once you can do this, you are on your way to building a healthy relationship with food.
Be gentle with yourself. Avoid those magazines and influencer images on social media that prompts you to put pressure on yourself to look a certain way. Don’t give energy to such things. Instead, listen to your own body. You are uniquely you, and so is your body. When you express self-love within, you will also express it outwardly. Self-love ‘turns head’s like no designer outfit can!
Harmony In Your Relationship
How does one achieve true harmony in a relationship? This is probably the most elusive aspect in most relationships these days. Sadly, a happy and healthy relationship cannot be achieved without it also being a harmonious relationship!
To achieve harmony in any relationship, we need to address the following two aspects with honesty and courage.
Firstly, what do you require from the relationship? Are your needs being met, or is the relationship all about them? Too often people settle for a bad relationship instead seeking to fulfill their own wants and needs.
Remember, you matter. You must also be your priority, not just your partner. Your wants and needs are a priority. If you put your needs aside and put everyone before yourself, you will never find harmony or joy in your relationships.
Make a list of your top ten wants or needs. Then make a list of your top five deal-breakers. What will you not tolerate or settle for? Once you have clarity on what you need and expect, you can more easily figure out what to do about it.
A healthy relationship goes both ways, with comprise. Do your best to see that you stay true to your wants and needs. Too many people settle, because they either think they cannot find someone better, or they are scared to move forward on their own. But we must be brave to achieve what we desire in life.
Tell yourself that you deserve to be happy and that you are going to find it. You deserve it! You are worth it! If you put all of that out to the Universe and believe it, it will happen for you when the time is right. Belief is key. If you believe it, you will achieve it.
You Are Stronger Than You Think
It is a lesser-known fact that depression can show up in our lives at any time, at a moment’s notice, with no warning. You can be in the happiest time of your life, and it can still sneak up on you.
Depression is a sneaky mental illness. You can do the therapy and treatment, the journaling, meditation, affirmations, and energy healing work all you want, but for some of us it can return at any time and still negatively impact our lives.
Emotionally exhausted days in bed or walking around like a zombie with no motivation or life direction. It is like carrying a bag of rocks on your back that gets heavier and heavier, until it finally overwhelms you entirely.
A person with high-functioning depression can fake a huge smile on the outside, while underneath they are falling apart. Their upbeat laughter and busy schedule are simply a coverup for the dark, ominous shadows that follows them everywhere they go.
For some it ends in suicide. Many of the lives tragically lost over the past year were not all directly due to the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The pandemic has also taken the lives of many people who simply could not cope with the trauma of these challenging times.
The world remains so judgmental about mental illness, despite the recent pandemic that has so brutally exposed its prevalence in our society. The pandemic has also not brought people closer together, as one might expect. Instead, it has torn already dysfunctional families, friendships, and workplaces further apart. It has given rise to abuse, anger, hatred, fear, and intolerance.
But you are stronger than you think. You may even be someone else’s rock at the moment and not even know it. And if the worst is currently upon you, or someone you love, call upon your angels, spirit guides and ancestors to hold you up, to guide you and to lift your energy.
Raising Your Vibration Changes The World
When I was a Yoga teacher, I often had students invite me for dinner or a social visit to help them clear the energy in their home. I would always remind them that, while I may be able to improve the vibration of their home and clear any negative energy, the results would only be temporary.
Attaining an improved energy frequency in this way, of feeling light, happy, hopeful, and positive, can be like a ‘quick-fix crash diet’ to get some weight off quickly. The instant, easy results may motivate one to lose weight more permanently with a sustainable, sensible nutrition plan and fitness routine, but it will never be a long-term, lasting solution on its own.
I have been practicing energy work and raising my vibration since I was teenager. My practice intensified when I began to study Kundalini Yoga in my 30’s.
Raising one’s energy vibration is a basically a process of expanding and strengthening the aura – our personal energy field. Various energy influences can cause our aura to retract and become diminished, for example as we grow older, or when we are traumatized in childhood. The aura ‘pulls in’ to protect us, much like someone might hunch over when they are being physically attacked.
Poor posture is often the result of the fourth (heart) chakra and the aura retracting to protect the self. Our energy vibration is a combination of the aura and the chakras or energy centers. When you realign and balance the chakras, you basically ‘take out the psychic trash’ and your vibration is heightened.
Having a consistently high vibration, however, can come with its own set of challenges. For example, I cannot wear a watch, for because my vibration tends to make them break down or stop moving. I often have problems with machinery and technology in my environment. I have also been told that went I walk into a room, the vibration changes.
Just like when a really negative person can bring everyone in down, or even make you feel ill, a positive, high vibration can make a room light up. People literally get high off the energy. The feeling is similar to falling in love or after one has given birth to your child. A raised vibration is a kind of low-level euphoria anyone can achieve.
The Light At The End Of The Tunnel
As the days get longer and the weather gets warmer in the Northern Hemisphere, there is a feeling of lightness that permeates everything. The saying “April showers bring May flowers,” is especially true this year, with wet weather helping the grass to turn green and the perennials to bloom.
Around the world, hope currently springs eternal, as more vaccines are being administered and COVID-19 statistics are starting to improve. We are all ready to get back to a semblance of normalcy, after more than a year of our lives being turned upside down and families separated.
Some of us are still in lockdown or subject to various restrictions. Some days are better than others. We are not entirely out of the woods yet, but at least it seems we are getting there, slowly but surely.
This past year of social restriction and isolation has however been an opportunity to reflect and make some needed changes to our lives. Although most people did not anticipate such an upheaval for so long, the additional time in isolation has allowed many of us to re-evaluate our life choices and really focus on what we want to accomplish in future.
Some of us have concentrated on charity. Some have turned to activism. Some have focused on self-care and self-healing. Regardless of our choice of focus, many of us have become more determined to make a difference in the world. This truly is one of the many blessings that has come from all the chaos.
It is important, however, that when we set these new intentions for our future, not to overreach with impossible goals or temporary plans. If feasible, choose a course of action that will be sustainable long after the immediate pressure of the pandemic has dissipated.
Your Sacred Creative Energy
One of the most powerful and sacred energies we have is our located in our Sacral Chakra, the seat of our sexual and creative energy. This chakra is located just underneath the navel and associated with the color orange.
Orange is the most creative color. I always recommend to my clients who are struggling to design, paint, sculpt, write, choreograph, compose, manifest, or get pregnant, to introduce as much orange in their life as possible. This means wearing orange, decorating your art studio with orange, and even eating oranges and carrots and other orange-colored foods!
Nothing is more powerful or important in life than to create another life. To create a new opportunity for soul growth. To give access to another being to be able to use the planet for spiritual growth. For this reason, our sexual energy and creative energy are intertwined.
When a client tells me they are having a hard time writing their book or completing an art project, I always look into what is happening in there romantic and sex life. Usually there is a problem in this aspect of their life. For example, an unhealthy sexual relationship involving abuse or perversion will stifle someone’s creative energy.
It is vital to know that every person you are sexually intimate with will leave a residue of their energy with you and take some of yours. Sex creates an energy cord between your and the other person. If this is not a healthy sexual exchange, then it may become both energetically and karmically toxic.
The abuse of our own sexuality, as well as the sexual abuse of others, can damage our creative energy. Abuse it, and you will lose it. Sexual trauma is stored in the body and can cause reproductive, psychological and creative damage. Sexual trauma as an adult, or in our childhood, needs a lot of work and time, and sometimes expert guidance, in order to heal.
We Are Never Alone
Extreme loneliness and feeling isolated have become more prevalent over the past year. Distancing ourselves from loved ones, friends and co-workers has not been easy, but being the determined spirits we are, we are all finding new ways to communicate and stay in touch. Yet, it will never be the same as a real-life hug.
Living in a house with several other people also does not shield us from feeling lost in all the chaos and noise that reaches us from the outside world, leaving many of us feeling empty, anxious and downcast.
To navigate these challenging times it is vital to have strong internal center and active spiritual life. Being spiritually aware and grounded empowers us with the knowing that we are never alone. Spiritually conscious souls know that the Universe, Spirit, God, Source, is always with us, supporting us, directing us, and protecting us.
Touching base with Spirit on a daily basis offsets the void of loneliness, fear or despair when it rears its ugly head. Some people do not have a social support system, and this can generate even more severe loneliness, depression and mental health challenges.
It’s important to remember that in our daily prayers and meditations, we are able to send protection, healing light and loving energy to others at a distance. We should be mindful to reach out to others more often and share our ‘spiritual glow’ with them.
It is also helpful to remember that there is always a higher purpose with everything that happens in our world. Keeping this knowledge uppermost in our minds can take us out of panic mode and remind us that faith and trust will bring us through to the other side of this pandemic.
When a sense of loneliness arises, one of the best things you can do is to reach out to someone else who is in a more difficult or less privileged circumstance than yourself. It serves to break the hold that a feeling of solitude can have on us.